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8th Ed. BRB Lores of Magic - A Deep Dive

Discussion in 'Other Armies Discussion' started by NIGHTBRINGER, Dec 18, 2021.

  1. NIGHTBRINGER
    Slann

    NIGHTBRINGER Second Spawning

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    Here is the pitch:

    Would anybody be interested in collectively doing a tactical deep dive on the 8 lores of magic from the BRB? The idea would be that each person volunteers to take on one of the 8 lores, does a write up and then shares it on this thread. 8 lores, 8 authors.

    Looking to create a thorough breakdown of each of the lores:
    • strengths + weaknesses
    • synergies
    • what units each spell works best on
    • armies it performs well for ( or against) and vice versa
    • spell breakdown - casting effectiveness/value, best and worst spells, tactical application, casting strategy/order etc.
    @Lord Agragax of Lunaxoatl @pendrake , @Knoffles , @Karnus , @Lizards of Renown , @WildColonial Boy , @Neersh , @Killer Angel , @Charlemagne , @BrotherSutek , @Scalenex , @Cptn Timmy , @Imrahil and anyone else who may be interested!

    We can either set up a rough timeframe to get them in by or just go with the flow as people finish. Let me know!

    Simply come forth and claim dibs on a lore. Speaking of which...

    Lore of Fire - @ASSASSIN_NR_1
    Lore of Beasts - @Lord Agragax of Lunaxoatl

    Lore of Metal - @NIGHTBRINGER
    Lore of Light
    Lore of Life
    Lore of Heavens - @Lizards of Renown
    Lore of Shadow - @Cptn Timmy
    Lore of Death - @The Great White Lizard
     
    Last edited: Mar 23, 2022
  2. Lord Agragax of Lunaxoatl
    Slann

    Lord Agragax of Lunaxoatl Eleventh Spawning

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    I’d be up for that...

    I bagsy The Lore of Beasts, as it is usable by both my Lizardmen and my fledgling Beastman force, meaning I might as well familiarise myself with it in depth.

    However, I must warn you that it’s unlikely I’d be able to complete my write-up by a specific deadline because of work, Christmas and the various other stuff I do in my life. I’ll post it when I finish it, eventually.
     
    Last edited: Dec 18, 2021
  3. Lizards of Renown
    Slann

    Lizards of Renown Herald of Creation

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    Nice!

    I'll do Lore of Heavens.

    As it's coming up to Christmas, I think just post as you finish as I've got a pretty packed schedule.
     
  4. NIGHTBRINGER
    Slann

    NIGHTBRINGER Second Spawning

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    Sounds fair gentlemen! No rush. Whenever you have the chance to get around to them, post them. I'm looking forward to it!


    Excellent! !.png

    Lore of Fire
    Lore of Beasts - @Lord Agragax of Lunaxoatl

    Lore of Metal - @NIGHTBRINGER
    Lore of Light
    Lore of Life
    Lore of Heavens - @Lizards of Renown
    Lore of Shadow
    Lore of Death


    Three claimed and five to go. Who else is interested?
     
    Last edited: Jan 8, 2022
  5. Lizards of Renown
    Slann

    Lizards of Renown Herald of Creation

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    If we don't end up with enough people I'll do another. I quite like the idea!

    Feels like I'm doing my PHD thesis on a lore of Warhammer! Awesome! :D
     
  6. NIGHTBRINGER
    Slann

    NIGHTBRINGER Second Spawning

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    Dr. Renown, PhD !.png
     
  7. NIGHTBRINGER
    Slann

    NIGHTBRINGER Second Spawning

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    @Lizards of Renown and @Lord Agragax of Lunaxoatl our recruitment effort could use a boost. Only 3 out of 8 slots filled. If you guys can think of any forum members (who I missed in my original post) who might be interested, please tag them in the thread.
     
  8. Lord Agragax of Lunaxoatl
    Slann

    Lord Agragax of Lunaxoatl Eleventh Spawning

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    Given that @Knoffles just liked one of my posts on this thread and has presented several fantastic tactica articles for armies on this forum and EEFL, I'm sure he'd be willing to have a stab at one of the remaining lores.
     
  9. Lizards of Renown
    Slann

    Lizards of Renown Herald of Creation

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    I would have thought we could interest @Killer Angel and @Scalenex into it as well… they’re both experienced 8th generals…
     
  10. NIGHTBRINGER
    Slann

    NIGHTBRINGER Second Spawning

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    Both very knowledgeable in the ways of WFB!

    @Killer Angel has been pretty busy as of late, but fingers crossed. As for @Scalenex , he is the OG of tactica writing! Perhaps we can coax the old warrior out for one last glorious battle!

    What about @ASSASSIN_NR_1 or @airjamy ? Still 5 lores of magic left to choose from!
     
  11. Scalenex
    Slann

    Scalenex Keeper of the Indexes Staff Member

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    Ummm, why reinvent the wheel. 90% of what you are asking for already exists and 60% of what you are asking for was already compiled on this by me.

    The Lizardmen handbook goes over all the lore in depth from the perspective of a LM general. Similar handbooks exist for Vampire Counts, Warriors of Chaos, Empire, and a few others. All of them have deep breakdowns magic lores and a ranking system for a relative value of the spells, lores, and attributes.

    The Tactica Index goes into a deep dive on Slann with sepearate threads all the 8 BRB lores and most of these guidelines other armies. I wrote most of these Slann BRB tacticas. I am not sure where the original link is but I did most of my research for these from I wrote this thread on building your army list around your lore of magic. While written for Lizardmen, most of these principles apply to all armies, though one major example is that in my opinion, high WS armies don't really gain much from the Lore of Light.

    This thread covers defense against hostile magic. Again it is LM specific but most of this applies to most armies.

    Feel free to use my ancient wisdom (and toss a few likes on some old Tacticas to warm my cold dead heart), but I don't feel like writing a "new" Tactica on the BRB lores of magic.
     
  12. NIGHTBRINGER
    Slann

    NIGHTBRINGER Second Spawning

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    Fair enough. The idea with this deep-dive series is threefold:
    1. To go into much greater depth of analysis (since each author would only be dealing with a single lore)
    2. To shift away from the LM lens that most of the other previous tacticas analyze subject through
    3. With 8th edition complete, this series would be fully up to date with the current (and final) state of the edition

    That said, no worries. It doesn't hurt to ask. The links you compiled might prove to be a good starting point for our authors.
     
  13. Lizards of Renown
    Slann

    Lizards of Renown Herald of Creation

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    download.jpg
     
  14. ASSASSIN_NR_1
    Carnasaur

    ASSASSIN_NR_1 Well-Known Member

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    I'd gladly take one, I just don't have the time to do any justice to such a tactica at the moment, so it might take a while for me to finish it. If that is a non-issue sign me up.
    It doesn't matter to me which lore I get (if any), so I'll just take whatever is left when others have chosen their preferred one or if it should be chosen now maybe you can choose NIGHTBRINGER? Either that or I'll leave the decision to my trusty friend: Random.org.
     
  15. NIGHTBRINGER
    Slann

    NIGHTBRINGER Second Spawning

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    That is not a problem. No rush. !!!!!.png

    Glad to have you onboard!

    What about taking on the Lore of Fire? That way at the very least we'd have the 4 less popular lores (Fire, Beasts, Metal and Heavens covered).

    Unless our fellow authors ( @Lord Agragax of Lunaxoatl and @Lizards of Renown ) feel differently. Thoughts?
     
  16. Lord Agragax of Lunaxoatl
    Slann

    Lord Agragax of Lunaxoatl Eleventh Spawning

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    I'd be happy for @ASSASSIN_NR_1 to have that one. As far as I can see Fire is one of the easier ones to analyse too (if not the easiest), which will be most helpful for him regarding the lack of time on his hands ;)

    I'm surprised Beasts and Heavens are supposedly less popular, they are both solid lores in my opinion, but perhaps that's because as a player of Lizardmen who doesn't have a Slann, those are the two main rulebook lores I've been using most often :D
     
  17. ASSASSIN_NR_1
    Carnasaur

    ASSASSIN_NR_1 Well-Known Member

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  18. NIGHTBRINGER
    Slann

    NIGHTBRINGER Second Spawning

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  19. NIGHTBRINGER
    Slann

    NIGHTBRINGER Second Spawning

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    I think on the whole, Light, Life, Shadow and Death are played more often. Death is typically considered to be the best BRB lore, if not the very best lore in the entire game. After Death, I'd say that Life (my personal favourite BRB lore) and Shadow are the next most popular, followed by the lore of Light.

    That is not to imply that these preferences extend universally throughout the community. Players have different preferences, metas, army builds and lores which they have access to. Hopefully, we can use this deep-dive analysis to find some hidden treasures. I've always thought that the Lore of Metal has more potential than people give it credit for, but I'm keeping an open mind. I'm going to try to break down the lore and see where it stands. I'm looking forward to what each of you do with your respective lores.
     
  20. Lord Agragax of Lunaxoatl
    Slann

    Lord Agragax of Lunaxoatl Eleventh Spawning

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    Here we go then, a rare @Scalenex style post from me - managed to get much of this out early, but it's still a bit of an ongoing analysis, so I will add any additional findings to the end of the post and make it even BIGGER!



    The Lore of Beasts, a Detailed Analysis, by Lord Agragax of Lunaxoatl

    First, I shall commence by breaking down and discussing each spell in the lore:

    Signature Spell: Wyssan’s Wildform A lovely Signature Spell and probably one of the best in the game, Wyssan’s gives a target unit +1 Strength and Toughness. This of course works best on large units of infantry (as much as I dislike praising Hordes) as those units maximise the number of attacks that benefit from the increased Strength, and have the most staying power to benefit from the +1 Toughness, but this is a welcome boost to any unit that can fight somewhat decently in melee, and at a pinch could even be used to protect a missile unit from an enemy that would otherwise make mincemeat of it in combat.

    1. The Flock of DoomThis is the first of many clear attempts to try and glow-up the Lore of the Wild given to the Beastmen in their 7th Edition army book, and arguably the worst, because the equivalent spell in the Lore of the Wild – Viletide – is a lot more useful against enemies of Toughness 4 or higher, as both spells wound such units on 6s, but Viletide inflicts 5D6 hits rather than the 2D6 of The Flock of Doom, meaning the maximum number of hits will be significantly greater with Viletide. Even against Toughness 2 or 3 enemies, while The Flock of Doom has a slightly improved chance of wounding, the number of hits it inflicts to start with will generally be significantly fewer than Viletide, meaning much of the time it’s going to be slightly inferior (though at least this is justified by its lower base casting value). Both spells are thus pretty much equally poor in damaging anything other than Swarms (which sadly nobody takes in 8th anyway unless purely for thematic reasons), but the one trump card of The Flock of Doom is that its range can be extended to 48” in its empowered version, giving it some vague use as a missile for killing War Machine crews. Even then, though, it’ll be wounding on 6s against Dwarf crews of both stripes and 5s against all others, so don’t expect it to work 100% of the time, or even 50%. Fortunately, though, because Wyssan’s is so wonderful, you’ll have no qualms about exchanging this spell for it.

    2. Pann’s Impenetrable Pelt A significantly better spell that gives the Wizard or a friendly character within 12”of him +3 Toughness – great for protecting your Wizard against a would-be challenger, or giving your own most powerful character a buff-up before he declares a challenge himself. Works best, of course, if your character already has a decent Toughness, armour and ward save for maximum defensive capabilities, as with this spell he’ll become more of a rock than Dwayne ‘The Rock’ Johnson hiking in the Rockie Mountains.

    3. The Amber Spear The one relic from the 7th Edition Lore of Beasts with an additional glow-up, the normal version gives you a Bolt Thrower, while the empowered version gives you almost the equivalent of a Cannon (with decreasing Strength as it passes through units, yes, but also no risk of misfire other than miscast) which can be excellent when employed against the right target. This spell is, however, situational. In the hands of an army that has no war machines, this is most useful indeed, in particular the empowered version that can easily be used to damage or even take out a beloved monster belonging to your opponent. However, in the hands of any army that has at the very least Bolt Thrower of its own, if not a Cannon as well, the usefulness of this spell deteriorates significantly. I will talk about the full extent of this spell’s synergy in-depth later, but for now, it’s clear that this one is a mixed bag – if it fills a niche in your army, keep it, if not, swap it for Wyssan’s.

    4. The Curse of Anraheir At first glance the only debuffing spell from the lore looks pretty subtle, but the various small debuffs it inflicts all add up to be a real pain for an enemy unit. Having to treat all terrain as dangerous is a nuisance enough, but having to suffer casualties on a 1 or a 2 is even worse, and if your opponent is foolish enough to move his unit you can expect to, on average, kill off around 1/3 of his unit with this spell, potentially triggering a Panic test into the bargain. Additionally armour counts for nothing against dangerous terrain tests, so cast it on that Chaos Warrior horde that’s scaring the life out of you and either shut it down for a turn or watch it be reduced to a much more manageable size. Banner of the World Dragon giving you grief? Dangerous terrain tests are not magical so that shouldn’t trigger the banner’s Ward Save. To add insult to injury, the enemy unit also must suffer a -1 penalty to Hit rolls in both shooting and close combat, so even if the target is in combat or can shoot, the spell is capable of causing trouble. Useful against pretty much any enemy unit except Monsters, which can only suffer a single wound from Dangerous Terrain as I understand it, and they have their counters. Keep this one if you’re lucky enough to roll it.

    5. The Savage Beast of Horros The beefier cousin of spell 2 and a rip-off of Mantle of Ghorok from the Lore of the Wild, this spell gives you the same +3 bonus, but to Strength and Attacks of the target character rather than Toughness, and while there is no chance of getting a +6 bonus as in Mantle, there is also no chance of inflicting any wounds on the character as a result of this spell. Another great spell that’s worth keeping much of the time, and can be a real life-saver if your prized General ends up in a challenge out of his depth.

    6. Transformation of Kadon At face value this looks like a pretty darn strong spell – turn your Wizard into a mighty monster and watch it ravage the enemy lines – but there are some big flaws with it in my eye – one, your opponent can attempt to dispel it again in subsequent turns, meaning at only a moment’s notice the Monster can turn back into your Wizard again, and two, in order to get any use out of this spell, you have to move your Wizard into combat, which is exactly where he doesn’t want to be. Combine this with flaw one, and it becomes a prime way to get your Wizard into deep doody. Thirdly, if the monster transforms back into your Wizard, any wounds it has suffered are automatically carried over, meaning if the monster has suffered at least 3 Wounds it will automatically kill your Wizard unless you’re using a Slann. Finally, Cannons (and ironically the empowered version of The Amber Spear) present a prime threat to your new Monster, so don’t even bother keeping this spell if you’re up against an army with one or even both of those. Again this is a rip-off of a Lore of the Wild spell, Savage Dominion, and people often compare this spell favourably against that one, but I would actually say Savage Dominion is slightly better, in that your Bray-Shaman doesn’t turn into the monster, but instead controls it with his mind, meaning you can keep him hidden in his unit away from combat while the monster is in the thick of it and wrecking stuff, and though the risk of your caster suffering a wound whenever the Monster does is still there, the Bray-Shaman has at least some chance of avoiding it by passing a Toughness test. All in all, while it looks a particularly fun spell, and can be effective so long as your opponent hasn’t brought any cannons along, or even if you get it on a low-level Wizard for whom the monster boost would be more cost-effective and whose sacrifice would cost you less VPs, I would personally relegate it to another one to be swapped for Wyssan’s much of the time.

    Synergies

    The armies that can use this Lore are:
    • Beastmen – despite being one of the most consistently lowest-ranked armies in the game, Beastmen easily benefit the most from this lore and become a particular threat with it backing them up, as the entire army receives a reduction in the casting value of the buff spells. Not only that, but they also benefit more from those buffing spells than some of the other armies – Gors, Bestigors and Minotaurs all become a lot more brutal with the addition of Wyssan’s, and Beastlords and Doombulls, already decent characters in their own right, become death incarnate with the bonuses from Pann’s Impenetrable Pelt and The Savage Beast of Horros, combined with the magic item loadouts they will have been given before the battle’s start. They also gain a huge amount from the use of The Amber Spear, as they don’t have any War Machines at all and the closest they normally get to one is the Cygor’s Stone Thrower attack (which is often eschewed anyway in favour of a Ghorgon or Jabberslythe), and even The Flock of Doom, as, given their lack of shooting units, they need something to be able to deal with enemy war machines to stop them taking out their monsters. Oh, and the icing on the cake – Curse of Anraheir can bring back the days of 6th Edition where your opponent always had to suffer a -1 penalty to shoot at your Core troops. Quite fittingly, Beasts is seen pretty much as an auto-take in a Beastman army, and mine will certainly be no exception!
    • Bretonnia – One of three lores Damsels and Prophetesses can take, alongside Life and Heavens, Bretonnia synergises almost as well as Beastmen with this lore, because their armies, alone of those in 8th, still consist of a lot of cavalry, all of whom will benefit from the Wildheart lore attribute. Additionally with their 2+ armour saves and penchant for charging and lances, Knights become a formidable threat with Wyssan’s boosting their Strength in the first round of combat to a mighty 6 for Knights of the Realm and Errant and 7 for elite Grail Knights, giving them a fair chance to shatter any enemy unit they can reach in a glorious Bretonnian charge. Additionally, Questing Knights can retain this super strength with their Great Weapons every turn if you can cast it on them every time, making them all the more fantastic at butchering Monsters and heavily-armoured elites. The Flower of Bretonnia also gets a lot out of The Amber Spear because again the only form of artillery she can muster is the stone-pelting Trebuchet, and with fewer and less effective monsters to their name than Beastmen they will get more of a kick out of Transformation of Kadon. However, they will suffer particularly if inflicted with The Curse of Anraheir, because as well as getting a reduction to its casting rolls against their cavalry units, it forces them to either avoid doing what they do best (generally galloping around the field and over enemy units) or suffer dangerous terrain tests that ignore their beloved 2+ armour saves, so if there was ever a time for a Damsel to unfurl her Dispel Scroll, it should be against Anraheir.
    • Daemons of Chaos – I wouldn’t be surprised if this lore was pretty rarely seen in Daemon armies, as only two of their special characters can access it – The Blue Scribes and Kairos Fateweaver, and those casters can choose from any of the eight rulebook lores. Given those casters are Tzeentchian they will probably more often choose the lores that can melt the enemy at magical range such as Fire and Death, but if the Daemon army has Bloodletters or Plaguebearers it will benefit a lot from Wyssan’s, and give either Pelt or Savage Beast to a Bloodthirster and your opponent will struggle to resist the temptation to throw the rulebook at you. However, it’s something to consider only upon the occasional whim of the Changer of Ways that grants you one of his chosen servants to command.
    • Dark Elves – All the Elf armies are a mixed bag when it comes to being able to benefit from this Lore, as with Strength and Toughness 3 their Core troops are incapable of tapping into the full potential of Wyssan’s, and their characters have the same trouble with Pelt and Savage Beast. However, being the most melee and monster-focussed of the three means their Special and Rare choices benefit the most from it, with Black Guard, Executioners, Witch Elves, Hydras, Kharibdysses and Cold One Knights all becoming even nastier with Wyssan’s, Transformation of Kadon adding further monsters to your menagerie and The Curse of Anraheir being great at making your opponent look all the more cumbersome and giving you an extra layer of protection against shooting if they have any, particularly important for Elves who usually die to a stiff breeze when it comes to ranged attacks. A good one to pick for Dark Elves for whom Specials and Rares do all the donkey work but are particularly brutal while doing it.
    • Empire – Empire I think benefit the least from this lore, as their massed ranks of sword-fodder won’t be insurmountable foes even with Wyssan’s, their characters are not the best to give Pelt or Savage Beast to, The Amber Spear is pointless unless for some reason you don’t have a Cannon (and if that’s the case Karl Franz will be considering a replacement for you) and Knights are rarely chosen because of the greater availability of aforementioned State Troopers. The only spells that are of any worth to an Empire player are Wyssan’s if you have Demigryphs and Griffons around, or Transformation of Kadon if you’re in need of an extra monster at a moment’s notice (your Wizards being particularly cheap means you won’t lose as many Victory Points compared to other factions if your Monster transforms at an inopportune time). Certainly there are better lores out there for Sigmar’s Heirs.
    • High Elves – High Elves benefit from this lore much in the same way as their Dark Elf cousins, though being less melee-oriented and more defensive gives them some different (but no less effective) applications for this Lore. White Lions and Phoenix Guard can reliably tank enemy shooting with Wyssan’s buffing them and Curse of Anraheir hampering the foe. Silver Helms and Dragon Princes can play at being Bretonnia more effectively with Wyssan’s boosting their Strength and Toughness and Transformation of Kadon can increase your diversity of monsters to match that of your evil twin faction. Certainly not a bad choice for the Sons of Asuryan at all, though the character-boosting spells will be less effective on yours than those of some of your foes.
    • Lizardmen – Capable of taking this lore both for Skink Priests (who can choose between it and Heavens) and Slann, a Beasts-heavy Lizardman force should always take lots of Saurus and dinosaurs to get the best out of this lore. Saurus Warriors become all the more deadly when their Strength and Toughness are boosted to 5, and Oldbloods can properly get on with being the predatory killing machines they are if they’ve got +3 Strength, Toughness or Attacks. Carnosaurs, Stegadons and even Bastiladons get nastier with some help from Wyssan’s, and while the ordinary version of The Amber Spear isn’t much different from the Stegadon’s Great Bow, the empowered version will certainly be of great help in assisting you with winning the Monster Mash. The Flock of Doom can again protect your precious monsters from enemy War Machines and Curse of Anraheir can help mitigate Saurus’ weakness of meagre Weapon Skill. Certainly one of the factions that’ll get more out of the Wind of Ghur (unless you favour Skink cloud spam, in which case pass). Not convinced? @Scalenex's articles on this site will enlighten you further.
    • Ogre Kingdoms – Another greater beneficiary of this Lore, while you have to give one of your Butchers the Lore of the Great Maw, if you have at least two then Beasts will certainly achieve fun results in an Ogre Kingdoms army. Not content with the rate at which your Bulls and Ironguts stomp the enemy flat? Give them a serving of Wyssan’s at your next tribal get-together and it’s a simple matter of pointing, clicking and weathering the first round of pinpricks from your puny enemy. Not impressed with the way Chaos Lords, Doombulls and Vampire Lords hack your Tyrant to death before he can even get his attacks in? Pann’s Impenetrable Pelt may taste gristly to him, but if you can convince him to wear it he’ll certainly have a better chance of being able to rock a challenge, or failing that, get him to take a bite out of The Savage Beast of Horros to give him even more oomph. However, The Flock of Doom, The Amber Spear and Transformation of Kadon are all of much more limited use, so you’d best hope you get a 2, 4 or 5 after you’ve swapped your first duff spell for Wyssan’s.
    • Vampire Counts – Vampires get a look-in with this lore, despite being Undead, because one character can potentially choose that silly power that allows them to be able to use any magic lore from the Rulebook bar Lore of Life. The character buffing spells will certainly be of use in making Vampire characters crazier in combat than ever, Curse of Anraheir can remedy your mobility problems by slowing your foes down, The Amber Spear helps cover your lack of artillery (or shooting in general), Blood Knights, Crypt Horrors, Vargeists, Zombie Dragons and Terrorgheists will all become unholy terrors with Wyssan’s, and Transformation of Kadon can give you a monster that doesn’t need to be within 12” of your general to march, but given you need some spare Lore of the Vampires Wizards to replace your general if he dies and keep your Undead hordes alive and groaning, it’s unlikely you’ll get chance to use this lore in games below 2000 points, and if you are, you’re making a gamble.
    • Wood Elves – Wood Elves won’t benefit the most from this lore, as they are primarily a shooty army and Beasts is used give combat units added clout. Still, if you’re going heavy on Eternal Guard, Rangers, Wild Riders and Dryads, getting in touch with your Elves’ inner beast becomes more appealing, and your cavalry, Hawks and Treemen will get that all important casting value reduction. However if you prefer going the preferred route of massed ranks of Glade Guard hiding in the woods and turning your enemies into pincushions, you’d better skip this Lore, as only The Amber Spear and perhaps Curse of Anraheir can help with this tactic.
    This is most of it, but it’s likely to evolve into something even bigger once I get a chance to do more comparison of casting values and think about effects of casting order.

    Spell Ranking
    1. Wyssan's Wildform - You knew this was going to reach top all day long, didn't you?
    2. The Curse of Anraheir - A lot of little debuffs combined make for a highly unpleasant hex spell for whichever enemy unit happens to be on the receiving end.
    3. The Savage Beast of Horros - Giving your character the Warhammer Fantasy answer to steroids is never a bad thing.
    4. Pann's Impenetrable Pelt - If you've gone all-out offence on a character and need to give him some defensive protection, or even if you think that 1+ Armour Save plus Ward still isn't enough to keep him safe, this spell is for you.
    5. The Amber Spear - You're after the empowered spell here, which is fantastic if your army doesn't have cannons, but less so there are already at least two in your roster.
    6. Transformation of Kadon - Bully's Prize Gamble - Warhammer style. Casting it on a Level 4 Wizard is bonkers, casting it on a more expendable Level 1 might give you some kicks if your opponent doesn't decide to inflict two wounds on the resulting creature and then dispel it.
    7. The Flock of Doom - If your enemy has artillery, consider it, if not, swap it for Wyssan's.

    Tactical Application
    With this lore, determining how many Wizards to give this lore to and how highly you Level them all depends on which army you're using, because as mentioned above, different armies receive different levels of benefits from it. Therefore, as with the Synergies listing, I'll go through it on an army-by-army basis:
    • Beastmen – Beastmen will particularly benefit from having a Level 4 Great Bray-Shaman with this lore as any of the spells he will get will be of some use to them, and the worst one can always be swapped for Wyssan's. A lot of Beastmen tacticas also recommend having at least one Level 1 or 2 Bray-Shaman as well purely to cast Wyssan's on a different unit and/or any good spells the Great Bray-Shaman fails to generate, and I agree wholeheartedly with them - I personally plan to have a Level 4 with Beasts, a Level 1 or 2 also with Beasts and a Level 2 with Shadow in the hopes of getting some of its better spells.
    • Bretonnia – Bretonnians can't go too far wrong with a Prophetess using Beasts, but the main problem with Bretonnians is that Beasts clashes heavily with Life in the contest of being the lore to focus on. Given that Wyssan's is highly likely to be the best signature spell in the game, perhaps a better strategy for them is to have a Prophetess with Life and one or more Level 1 or 2 Damsels with Beasts to make the most out of the Signature Spell, with any other useful buff spells being a bonus.
    • Daemons of Chaos – As mentioned before, only the Blue Scribes and Kairos Fateweaver can use Beasts. Kairos can choose two Lores in addition to Tzeentch, so can use Beasts with one of his heads and choose from any one of Light, Heavens, Life or Metal to use with the other, so Beasts isn't a bad choice at all for him (in particular when combined with the more defensive buffing spells and resurrection from Lore of Life), but the Blue Scribes I would advise against giving Beasts to, given that they randomly generate their spell each turn and cast it as a Bound Spell, and cannot choose the Signature Spell. True, they could get a good one that turn like Savage Beast or Curse of Anraheir, but they could also get a poor one like Flock of Doom or Transformation of Kadon. They're better off mucking about with a lore that has generally all-round useful spells, like Death or Fire.
    • Dark Elves – Dark Elf Sorceresses usually like to play around with Dark Magic and other more aggressive lores like Death and Shadow, so I wouldn't expect more than a Level 2 Sorceress with Beasts involved.
    • Empire – Given that Beasts isn't as helpful to Empire as it is to many of the other factions listed here, I can only see one Level 1 or 2 Beasts Wizard being used to cast Wyssan's, with other Wizards using different lores to try and cover as much of the magic spectrum as possible.
    • High Elves – High Elf Mages usually like to play around with High Magic, but aren't averse to using more buff-oriented lores like Life and Beasts, so perhaps a couple of Level 2 Mages will hang around to try and boost Swordmasters, White Lions and Phoenix Guard to scary levels with Wyssan's, but I wouldn't expect them to give it to an Archmage.
    • Lizardmen – Lizardman players have particular flexibility available to them with this Lore, as both Skink Priests and Slann know it. This means they can choose to go the Beastman route with both their Slann and one or more Skink Priests knowing it (which wouldn't be a bad strategy, particularly if you have a lot of Saurus units that would benefit from Wyssan's, or a lot of dinos that need protection from artillery), but unlike Beastmen casters, Slann can access all eight of the rulebook Lores plus High Magic, meaning going Beasts-heavy measn Lizardmen will miss out on a lot more than Beastmen, particularly against enemies who require a different lore to counter best. Therefore, choosing any of the other seven rulebook lores or High Magic for the Slann and giving Beasts to all your Priests means a Lizardman player can gain the benefits from another lore while still being able to spam Wyssan's with their Skink Priests, plus benefit from another buff spell or inflict Curse of Anraheir if they roll well.
    • Ogre Kingdoms – As mentioned above, Ogres have to have at least one caster with the Lore of the Great Maw if they wish to go magic-heavy, and the usefulness of that lore means it's likely that honour will go to the Slaughtermaster if there is one, so it's likely there will be only one (or at the most 2) Level 1 or 2 Butchers using Beasts in an Ogre army.
    • Vampire Counts – Only one Vampire (not a Necromancer) in a Vampire Counts army will ever be able to use this lore, and unless you have multiple Vampire Lords in your army (which would scare your opponent to undeath but would also be a big points sink) it's more likely that a Level 1 or 2 Vampire will receive the power that gives him access to this lore, as the General will have to take the Lore of Vampires and VC players nearly always like to have a big scary tooled-up Vampire Lord to take up this position.
    • Wood Elves – Given that Wood Elves won’t benefit much from this lore as mentioned before, and get both High and Dark Magic to cause all sorts of trouble with, I wouldn't expect more than a Level 2 Spellsinger with Beasts involved.
     
    Last edited: Apr 6, 2022

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